Overview
Behind Manufacturing Works there is one simple premise: America’s manufacturing base drives its prosperity. The industrial sector is special because of its size, its ability to generate innovation and value, its importance to national security, its role in meeting people’s wants and needs, and the dignity of the work it provides for 17 million Americans. The combined problems of a worsening U.S. trade balance, mounting layoffs, and uncertainties in financial markets are heightening the need to strengthen the U.S. industrial base in order to sustain the prosperity the nation has enjoyed in recent years.Based on the landmark study they created to explore the American manufacturing landscape, authors Fred Zimmerman and Dave Beal take a hard look at this often-unappreciated section in 232 key counties. Zimmerman and Beal build their case through concise research, scores of interviews, and many visits to factory floors.
The intelligent discussion of Manufacturing Works will be appreciated and respected by labor leaders, corporate executives, people interested in public policy, and rank-and-file factory workers. The book initiates a provocative discussion on how comparative advantage can be created and lost. Made more comprehensible through graphics, tables, and maps, Manufacturing Works tells the stories of the workers, managers, community leaders, and others-the faces behind the data.
About the Authors:
A manufacturing systems engineering and international management professor at the University of St. Thomas, Fred Zimmerman has more than 25 years of industry experience as an engineer, manager, vice president, and president, and has served on the boards of 16 corporations. Zimmerman has written numerous professional articles, research manuscripts, and the book, The Turnaround Experience: Real World Lessons in Revitalizing Corporations. He has addressed business issues concerning the manufacturing sector on PRI’s Marketplace and All Things Considered on Minnesota Public Radio.
St. Paul Pioneer Press business columnist Dave Beal has won numerous awards, including the INGAA-University of Missouri, Northwestern University, and Overseas Press Club competitions. In 1998, he received his newspaper’s Special Achievement Award. He is a former president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).